Month: October 2013

My Fountain Pen Day

/ Pete Denison / 16 Comments

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This Friday, November 1 is the second annual Fountain Pen Day.

My original “fountain pen day”? That was sixteen years ago, the 20th day of September 1997, when I received the gift of a pen from my beautiful wife. The very same pen is with me every day, and is a constant joy and delight to use.

The irony is not lost on me as I write on a touchscreen keyboard about something so, well…traditional and analogue. However, this is the world we live in. As far as fountain pens go I entered at the deep end, the pen in question being a Montblanc Meisterstuck Classique, which has been a star performer since day one. The pen described by Montblanc:

Fountain pen with piston converter, 14 K gold nib with rhodium-plated inlay, barrel and cap made of black precious resin inlaid with Montblanc emblem, gold-plated clip and rings

Over the past sixteen years, I have used a limited range of inks, never venturing beyond the Montblanc variety, usually black or blue-black. Currently it is inked with Montblanc Midnight Blue. The nib is medium, and although a little broad for everyday work use, this is how I like it – something I use for enjoyment, not utility.

Why do those of us who use fountain pens do so? I’m sure we all have our reasons, however for myself, I would venture to say the answer would be similar to asking why I roast my own coffee – for the opportunity to be involved in what I am doing. To be a part of what is being produced, and influence the end result. My hand writing is far from perfect, and I often sit back and smile as I struggle to produce uniformity – for it’s in the struggle where you will find the worth, the reward. The never-ending search for a perfectly formed, written line is like the perfectly roasted bean and brewed cup, tantalisingly close but by necessity always beyond reach, for if ever truly achieved…

It is the slight imperfections in our endeavours that define us all and make us unique. The cup that just misses or the tail on the q being a little too short. The journey from line to line will take you towards it. Where? To somewhere you can only go in that moment of angle, pressure, ink flow and concentration. When to reposition your hand, whether the pen is rotated to the nib sweet spot, if I’m going to hit that fleck in the paper that may throw off my rhythm.

Frustrating? Absolutely.
Hopeless? At times.
Inspiring? Always.

The perfect piece of written prose in perfect cursive? Never. This pen as the perfect companion for a lifelong writing journey? Yes indeed.

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Another perfect companion for a life journey on that same “fountain pen day”? Absolutely. That day sixteen years ago was my wedding day.

Update – Nock Co. Kickstarter Project

/ Pete Denison / 1 Comment

This is an update to a post from earlier this month about Nock Co., and their Kickstarter project aimed at raising funding to manufacture high quality, hand made pen cases. At the time of writing, only 58 hours remain, with the project guaranteed to be funded on Wednesday, October 30, with things having gone pretty well to this point – currently at an amazing $70,000+ of the original funding goal of $5000.

As a backer set to receive one of each model manufactured, I will be waiting with much anticipation in January when the shipping date rolls around.

This would be a great time to get in before the initial funding period ends, both to give the boys at Nock Co. a bit of a kick along, and to guarantee yourself some pretty smooth merchandise once the manufacturing is complete.

For a look at what is on the way, head to the Kickstarter page, or to Nock Co. on the Web, Instagram, or Twitter.

Looking beyond the current fund raising, on a recent episode of the Pen Addict podcast, Brad Dowdy, aka The Pen Addict and co founder of Nock Co., remarked how keen he was to get through this initial phase and get the cases manufactured, as there are already a lot more great ideas for future Nock Co. products.

Cannot wait for those!

Ironman Geisha – Your Choice

/ Pete Denison / Leave a comment

A little humour from The Guardian Australia Foodblog:

There’s this coffee called Caterer’s Blend. You find it in the tearooms of tight-arsed institutions that have a high volume of randoms floating through in search of a caffeine transportation vehicle. A little “black magic” so they can endure the next five minutes without killing themselves or the people they are paid to deal with.

In my office, the Caterers a Blend equivalent is Nescafe Blend 43, which I have mentioned in less than glowing terms in a previous post.

Ironman Geisha, well that is another story, and is something else that I will not be consuming in any great quantity (or at all). I must admit I am a little envious of those who will give it a try though. The reason being that this coffee was recently purchased at the Best of Panama auction by Australia’s Campos Coffee for AU$666.00 per kilo, and will be sold in 150 gram jars for AU$100.00. Nice jars too if you check out their online store.

Then, much to my disappointment, a little humour from The Guardian went to a moan and groan:

Which makes the story of the Ironman Geisha such a monumental wank.

And to be honest I don’t care what this coffee tastes like, at $666 a kilo it’s still a ripoff. Who asked for this?

It is fairly clear the writer has completely missed the point about these types of limited consumer opportunities. Simple supply and demand, the chance to “try it out”, and the choice of any consumer in what they spend their money on, to name but a few of the reasons people will buy this coffee and be glad they did.

A better article if it simply described the Geisha, the writer asking whether they would pay $100 for 150 grams, answering a simple no, (as many who browse the Campos site will also say) and getting on with it. “Who asked for this?” – well, no-one. Who is forced to buy it – well strangely enough, no-one. It is not fluoride in a water supply and I’m pretty sure no-one is being held hostage until they suck $100 from their PayPal account.

We could rattle off a long list of food and beverages people choose to pay far too much for, many of which are consumed in a fairly short period of time. Oh – wait…they choose to pay for. Nothing further I need to say, apart from well done Campos, you can be well satisfied when every last jar is shipped.

As far as the Guardian article is concerned? Relevant point completely missed.

The final word on this must go to Dan (who at least tried the coffee, unlike The Guardian) in an article and short cupping video in The Brisbane Times. Oh…who incidentally is a non coffee drinker who picked the Ironman out of a line up in a blind cupping session – just saying.

iPads and Mavericks

/ Pete Denison / 1 Comment

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Earlier in the week yet another Apple event unfolded, this time unveiling the new model iPads, Macs and immediate availability to download (free) the latest desktop operating system, OS X Mavericks. Though an avid iOS user for the past couple of years, I have only recently (about a month ago) picked up a Mac mini as our home machine, transitioning from a windows PC in the process.

Obviously with much still to learn and get my head around as far as OS X is concerned, I was happy to close the loop and begin living full time in the Apple ecosystem. I envisage many apps and workflows will function more seamlessly for having done so. As you would expect, “closing the loop” means everything with the exception of my work office because, as I have touched on in previous posts, the large corporate Windows network is certainly not going anywhere.

As is usually the case, there are many great reviews on the announcements made at the 22 October event, and the video can be streamed if you are interested. My main reason for tuning in to the excellent TUAW Live Weblog early on the morning of the 23rd (Australian time) was firstly to hear about the refreshed iPad line up, and secondly for an update on the availability of Mavericks.

iPads

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Having mentioned in a post a few months ago of my plans to downsize my iPad 2 to an iPad mini when Apple next renewed the line up, I was particularly keen to see if what I was hoping for (and had split the rumour mill in the event lead up) came to fruition – an iPad mini with Retina display.

For me, that wish was granted, and I will be off to purchase a space grey, 32GB WiFi model once they hit the stores. The fact that the weight and thickness increased a little will not be a concern for me, as coming from an iPad 2 I will be improving on both counts anyway.

The features I am really excited about? Apart from the improved display, I am pleased Apple went with the A7 chip in the mini, as I had expected this for the full size iPad however thought the mini may have received an A6 instead. I am looking forward to a zippy experience with the latest processor and 64 bit architecture, which will scale well as developers begin to take advantage of this hardware in the future.

Was I tempted by the specs of the full size iPad Air? Most definitely, however the majority of my iPad use is comprised of reading, researching and some writing – much of which occurs on a bus (or a couch), along with watching TV shows when my brain requires a less intense commute. The iPad mini is a perfect fit, as I often do not have the space when sitting on the bus to easily (and privately) work on my iPad 2, and am looking forward to an easier time with the smaller form factor of the mini. There are also many times when I leave the office at lunch time to head for a cafe, and often think I should use the time to draft another post, however am often not keen to carry my iPad 2 with me. I am assuming the mini being easier to carry, will lower the resistance to picking it up as I leave the office.

I have long been eyeing the iPad mini as my next purchase, however in assuming Apple would refresh the line in the latter half of this year, preferred to wait for a new model. In thinking as to why, the improved performance was probably a bigger draw than the retina display, as it is something I will be using for at least another 18 months – a long time in an ever advancing tech marketplace where more and more processing power is required to effectively run these devices.

Although there are some who question Apple’s wisdom in maintaining the iPad 2 in the line up, I think overall it is a perfect fit, as there are now two clear entry level iPads (iPad 2, iPad mini) both with matching specs apart from physical size, and two top of the line devices (iPad Air, iPad mini with retina display), again with matching specs in differing sizes. It may also surprise some that the iPad 2 is still the most used iPad, more so than the 3rd and 4th generations combined. A full comparison of the final range can be seen on the Apple Store (Australian store link).

For a much more in depth look at what we have in store come release day for these devices check out a great review by Federico Viticci at Macstories.

Mavericks

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As I mentioned above, I am starting from square one with OS X as an operating system, let alone providing you with any sort of in depth analysis of the Mavericks upgrade (officially OS X 10.9).

Probably the thing that stood out for me about the upgrade was the immediate release and the free price tag, which is a great thing for all mac users. Whether or not this is because there weren’t many new features to justify a paid upgrade is probably not that relevant, as most who have upgraded would have also done so with a $20 price tag.

So, as I head off to learn more on OS X and Mavericks myself, I highly recommend the following to educate yourself on the new OS:

OS X Mavericks: The Review – Stephen Hackett at 512 Pixels
OS X 10.9 Mavericks: The Ars Technica Review – John Siracusa at Ars Technica
OS X Mavericks: Tips, Tricks, and Details – Federico Viticci at Macstories

In addition to these reviews, a couple of other pieces worth reading include Federico Viticci’s Working with Mavericks After A Year of iPad, which provides an interesting look at both aspects of the announcements, and from Jim Dalrymple at The Loop, in Thoughts on the Apple Event. If you prefer to listen rather than read, The Prompt podcast, featuring two authors from the reviews above, is always an entertaining and informative look at recent events in the world of Apple technology.

In conclusion, what does it all mean? That is for you to decide, as far as your needs and available budget are concerned. For myself, a little forward planning in budgeting for the upgrade, means that by the time I offload my iPad 2 on eBay, the upgrade to the retina iPad mini will be reasonably painless.

Roll on “later in November” – Apple were a little vague about the release date for the mini, though I’m sure it will arrive eventually.

Related articles

Crop to Cup – Part 5 | Tasting

/ Pete Denison / Leave a comment

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Here we go, the finale in the Crop to Cup series, where we sample the end result of the past 6 weeks caring for and nurturing (let’s be honest – processing) our microlot of coffee beans. As you can see by the image above, it was going to go one of two ways. Over this time we have worked through pulping and fermentation (Crop to Cup – Part 1); drying (Crop to Cup – Part 2, and Crop to Cup – Part 3); and hulling (Crop to Cup – Part 4) prior to roasting.

After such a long process, my concern was that I would be somewhat biased about the result. Also, given I had such a small amount, how was I going to brew? After setting aside half of the massive 27 gram (roasted) crop to return to the generous barista who gave me the coffee cherries in the first place, only enough remained for a single brew, whichever method I chose.

After much deliberation, I went with my Hario V60. My rationale being I wanted a method that would allow me to assess the coffee on its own merits rather than being combined with milk, and in the knowledge that the returned beans to my barista friend would be tasted as an espresso. The V60 seemed like a good fit as I would be able to enjoy six or so weeks worth of care and attention for a little longer, rather than having an espresso that was both created and consumed in a flash. Though in saying that, I would also be in for a longer period of disappointment and torture if the resulting brew was horrible.

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So, how did it turn out?

The Whack

What
Jen’s Australian Microlot
Harvest Year: 2013
Wet processed; sun dried
Sorry, no further information regarding the exact origin of these beans!

How
Hario V60 Pourover

Assessment
The section I have been waiting to get to for some time now!

In summary, the resulting brew was fairly ordinary, however drinkable none the less. Overall, it lacked any real body and had minimal sweetness, even as the brew cooled. Underneath there were some very mild floral and herby notes doing their best to be tasted. Accompanying these were some earthy flavours which thankfully did not overpower the brew, though lingered in an aftertaste that was a little, shall we say … strange.

Generally speaking, none of the flavours really overpowered the brew, making it a little “flat” overall. Given the light to medium roast of the beans, perhaps in retrospect I should have roasted them a little darker.

Feedback from my barista friend on the espresso experience was not positive at all. The concentrated form of an espresso shot seemed to magnify everything that was wrong with the beans, particularly the lack of any discernible body. I am told it was quite a flavourless experience.

Conclusion; Know This
In conclusion, although a little labour intensive, processing from the original cherries into something I could roast and then brew was a very satisfying experience. Yes, the taste test above did not reveal anything outstanding, however the brew was certainly drinkable and knowing that both the roast and brewing variables could be tweaked and improved if more of the “raw materials” were available was a promising sign for any future attempts.

I must also note here that I am comparing this with some fairly high quality beans I routinely purchase from Ministry Grounds Coffee, my usual supplier.

Rating : 2/5

If you have followed this 5 part series, thanks for sticking with it over the past couple of months. I hope it has given some insight into small batch coffee processing had you not already experienced it yourself. For me it will be back to the usual roasts and posts. I’m not sure if the labour intensive nature of processing from scratch suits my lifestyle. Then again, my mother did say there is a nice young coffee tree in a pot she is saving until my next visit. Perhaps I am about to become a grower as well…